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Automotive News & Views Are gas prices fueling your pain? 
10042 messages, Last post on Jul 12, 2008 at 3:07 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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| There used to be a poster, I think in this thread, who said they were hoping gas prices went up so demand would go down. They are getting their wish. | |
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Replying to: tedebear (Apr 27, 2008 4:43 pm) |
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Replying to: flash11 (Apr 27, 2008 1:26 pm) Because a lot of these parts are built mostly in third-world countries, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, China, we here in the States forget to care. But the reality is the new "green cars" being built today have a larger carbon footprint and are more detrimental to the earth and the environment than the gas guzzlers built during the 60's through the '90's. It's the world we are supposed to be worried about, not just the USA. Their air is our air eventually, their water becomes our water. Yet for some reason we clap our hands like children with a new toy and look at these "green cars" and say, "Oh goody, aren't we ever so ecologically neat and forward thinking?" The hard truth is, we're not. 
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Replying to: euphonium (Apr 27, 2008 6:25 pm) You can choose to buy from companies that have a transparency program to assure brand accountability. Here's one source: 1% for the Planet. No auto companies have made that list yet. More Companies Want Outsource Vendors to Green Operation (Greenbiz.com) |
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Replying to: euphonium (Apr 27, 2008 6:25 pm) This has been one of my pet peeves with the hybrids being brought into the USA. I get lambasted by so called environmental types that believe it is OK to pollute other countries. For them the end justifies the means. The end being a gas hybrid for instance. The EV movement has some credibility. Again where will the batteries and motors be built? Can they be built in the USA under our EPA regulations. If not they should not be brought into and sold in this country. As far as Teslacars, they are becoming just a joke in my book. Old technology in a fancy body being built in another country for the very wealthy to push their green agenda on the unsuspecting masses.
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I paid $3.99 for gas for both my cars in the past 24 hours, so I am at the mystical figure proposed by this thread. I really didn't do anything unusual. I put a couple gallons in the old car every time I drive it, and I top off the modern car once a week (fixation of mine), so I am never hit with a big bill, just a bunch of small ones. |
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Replying to: tedebear (Apr 27, 2008 4:38 pm) That was me, and to the other person who asked if they also pay that incentive to ride your bike in, the answer is yes. You have to commit to biking in every day, I believe. I checked out transit: there is only bus transit where I live, and there is no bus that would deliver me to work on time. So I am still not a participant in this program. If I were in better shape, I might follow my principles to their logical conclusion and bike to work, but I might have a heart attack if I tried that presently. :-/ Oh, and the average price of regular unleaded has now officially exceeded $4/gallon in the SF Bay. I managed to find a place where I could buy it for $3.89 earlier today, but it could be "time to change the title of the thread"...
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Are hybrids healthy for drivers? There is a legitimate scientific reason for raising the issue. The flow of electrical current to the motor that moves a hybrid vehicle at low speeds (and assists the gasoline engine on the highway) produces magnetic fields, which some studies have associated with serious health matters, including a possible risk of leukemia among children. With the batteries and power cables in hybrids often placed close to the driver and passengers, some exposure to electromagnetic fields is unavoidable. Moreover, the exposure will be prolonged — unlike, say, using a hair dryer or electric shaver — for drivers who spend hours each day at the wheel. Some hybrid owners have actually tested their cars for electromagnetic fields using hand-held meters, and a few say they are alarmed by the results. Their concern is not without merit; agencies including the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute acknowledge the potential hazards of long-term exposure to a strong electromagnetic field, or E.M.F., and have done studies on the association of cancer risks with living near high-voltage utility lines. “It would be a mistake to jump to conclusions about hybrid E.M.F. dangers, as well as a mistake to outright dismiss the concern,” said Jim Kliesch, a senior engineer for the clean vehicles program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Additional research would improve our understanding of the issue.” The concern over high E.M.F. levels in hybrids has come not just from worrisome instrument readings, but also from drivers who say that their hybrids make them ill. Neysa Linzer, 58, of Bulls Head in Staten Island, bought a new Honda Civic Hybrid in 2007 for the 200 miles a week she drove to visit grocery stores in her merchandising job for a supermarket chain. She said that the car reduced her gasoline use, but there were problems — her blood pressure rose and she fell asleep at the wheel three times, narrowly averting accidents. “I never had a sleepiness problem before,” Ms. Linzer said, adding that it was her own conclusion, not a doctor’s, that the car was causing the symptoms. Ms. Linzer asked Honda to provide her with shielding material for protection from the low-frequency fields, but the company declined her request last August, saying that its hybrid cars are “thoroughly evaluated” for E.M.F.’s before going into production. Testing with a TriField meter led Brian Collins of Encinitas, Calif., to sell his 2001 Honda Insight just six months after he bought it — at a loss of $7,000. He said the driver was receiving “dangerously high” E.M.F. levels of up to 135 milligauss at the hip and up to 100 milligauss at the upper torso. These figures contrasted sharply with results from his Volkswagen van, which measured one to two milligauss. Kent Shadwick, controller of purchasing services for the York Catholic District School Board in York, Ontario, evaluated the Toyota Prius for fleet use. Mr. Shadwick said it was tested at various speeds, and under hard braking and rapid acceleration, using a professional-quality gauss meter. “The results that we saw were quite concerning,” he said. “We saw high levels in the vehicle for both the driver and left rear passenger, which has prompted us to explore shielding options and to consider advocating testing of different makes and models of hybrid vehicles.” Lawrence Gust of Ventura, Calif., a consultant with a specialty in E.M.F.’s and electrical sensitivity, was one of the electrical engineers who tested Mr. Collins’s Insight in 2001. He agreed that the readings were high but did not want to speculate on whether they were harmful. “There are big blocks of high-amp power being moved around in a hybrid, the equivalent of horsepower,” he said. “I get a lot of clients who ask if they should buy hybrid electric cars, and I say the jury is still out.” http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/automobiles/27EMF.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&or- ef=slogin
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Replying to: nippononly (Apr 27, 2008 10:02 pm) Leave real early, ride real slow....  Just joshin' ya |
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| I'm doing more online shopping and when I do go to the store I call ahead to ensure that what I want is in stock. Grocery shopping we buy some extra to reduce the number of trips. | |
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